Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with Lemon and Parsley
Recipe by Silvia Baldini—Spatchcocking, or butterflying, a chicken means cutting out its backbone and opening it like a book so that it lies flat while cooking. It ensures that the chicken will cook quickly and evenly and turn a uniform brown with perfectly crispy skin.
When smothered in mustard and marinated overnight with garlic, lemon and a large bunch of parsley, this chicken grills to perfection and tastes superlative without doing too much work. You can splash the cooked chicken with a quick balsamic vinaigrette like I do or serve it just the way it is. Either way, it’s delicious.
Ask your butcher to spatchcock the chicken for you, but it’s not a hard thing to do yourself. I use my sharp kitchen shears and I cut alongside the backbone, from one end of the bird to the other. Then I cut along the other side of the backbone to remove it completely and then I flatten the whole bird evenly with the palm of my hands.
Happy BBQ season!
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Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with Lemon and Parsley
Recipe by Silvia Baldini—Spatchcocking, or butterflying, a chicken means cutting out its backbone and opening it like a book so that it lies flat while cooking. It ensures that the chicken will cook quickly and evenly and turn a uniform brown with perfectly crispy skin.
When smothered in mustard and marinated overnight with garlic, lemon and a large bunch of parsley, this chicken grills to perfection and tastes superlative without doing too much work. You can splash the cooked chicken with a quick balsamic vinaigrette like I do or serve it just the way it is. Either way, it’s delicious.
Ask your butcher to spatchcock the chicken for you, but it’s not a hard thing to do yourself. I use my sharp kitchen shears and I cut alongside the backbone, from one end of the bird to the other. Then I cut along the other side of the backbone to remove it completely and then I flatten the whole bird evenly with the palm of my hands.
Happy BBQ season!
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 to 6 people | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 50 minutes | 1hour minimum or overnight for marinating time |
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Ingredients
Chicken
- 1tablespoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
- 1teaspoon fresh ground pepper, plus more as needed
- 3tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2large lemons (1 lemon for 1 teaspoon grated zest and 2 tablespoons of juice; and 1 lemon for slicing)
- 2medium garlic cloves, minced
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch fresh flat Italian parsley
- 14 ½- to 5-lb whole chicken, spatchcocked
Balsamic Vinaigrette
- ½cup water
- ½cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¼cup dark aged balsamic vinegar
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1bunch bunch fresh flat Italian parsley, finely chopped
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Rub this mixture generously all over both sides of the chicken. Place the chicken skin-side up in a rimmed and lined baking sheet and top with parsley and lemon slices Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook, remove the chicken from the fridge and let it stand on the counter for 30 minutes. Preheat the grill or oven to 475°F.
- Uncover the chicken, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook, skin side up, for 20 to 25 minutes.
- While the chicken is cooking make the vinaigrette. In a small pan, combine the the water, lemon and sugar, then bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and add the balsamic vinegar. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until thick and slightly reduced.
- Turn off the heat and whisk in olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper and set aside.
- Flip the chicken skin side down and cook for another 20 to 25 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and the skin is very crispy and brown all over but not burned.
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to rest. Drizzle the chicken with a couple of tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Carve and serve with the remaining vinaigrette.
Recipe Notes